Kurrichane Buttonquail ( Turnix sylvaticus, family: Turnicidae)

kurrichane buttonquail kruger national park birds The Kurrichane Buttonquail (Latin name Turnix sylvaticus) is described in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition. This bird has a unique Roberts number of 205 and you will find a full description of this bird on page 118 also a picture of the Kurrichane Buttonquail on page 320. The Kurrichane Buttonquail belongs to the family of birds classified as Turnicidae. According to the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology the Kurrichane Buttonquail is also known by these other names: Buttonquail, Little Buttonquail, West African Buttonquail, Common Buttonquail, Andalusian Hemipode.

The map of the Kruger you see on this page shows the areas (coloured orange) where this bird has been identified. The basic information was provided by the Avian Demographic Unit based at UCT and I created the maps from that information ... the green dots show the locations of the various Kruger National Park Rest Camps

The Kurrichane Buttonquail is neither Endemic or near Endemic to the Kruger National Park.

In terms of distribution of the Kurrichane Buttonquail in the Kruger National Park you may not see it in all areas. Kurrichane Buttonquail : see above distribution map.

Identification assistance for this avian species ...

One of the first indicators to take note of when trying to identify a bird is it relative size. For example how big is the bird compared to a well known familiar bird. The Kurrichane Buttonquail is a small bird about the size of a house sparrow. Do not take this relative indicator as anything other than a rough easy to remember indicator. It is not a accurate visualization. The height of the Kurrichane Buttonquail is about 16 cms and its weight is about 50 gms

You will find that the male Kurrichane Buttonquail plumage and colours are different to that of the female Kurrichane Buttonquail

  • Head is brown.
  • Eye is cream.
  • Bill is blue, grey.
  • Throat is white.
  • Back is brown.
  • Legs are pink.

This bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Main diet items for this bird ...

The Kurrichane Buttonquail feeds on the ground mainly

Invertebrates

Seeds

Breeding and nesting habits for this bird ...

The Kurrichane Buttonquail takes on more than a single mate (it is bigamous).

The nesting habit of Kurrichane Buttonquail is to create the nest on the ground. The bird lays eggs which are cream in colour and number between 2 to 4

Habitat and flocking behaviour for this bird ...

The preferred habitats for Kurrichane Buttonquail are: grasslands

You will not see Kurrichane Buttonquail in flocks. The bird prefers to act singly or in pairs.

Names of this avian species in other languages ...

Xhosa ... Ingolwane

Zulu ... uNgoqo

Afrikaans ...Bosveldkwarteltjie

German ... Laufhhnchen, Rostkehl-Kampfwachtel

Portuguese ... Toiro-comum

French ... Turnix d'Andalousie

Dutch ... Gestreepte Vechtkwartel

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For in-depth birding information please refer to these authoritative avian references ...

Robert's 7th edition number ... 205

The main reference source for this data was "Roberts - Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition" . Other references were "Newmans Birds of the Kruger Park" by Keith Newman published circa 1980 . Names in foreign languages were obtained from the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town website , www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za